GCSE Geography | Fracking in the UK (Resource Management - UK Overview 9)

Fracking is also known as hydraulic fracturing - over the last few years the UK government has been investigating whether this is an efficient and safe way to extract natural gas located thousands of metres underground in shale rock. The process of fracking is very controversial - involves drilling a deep hole and releasing the gas stored in rocks using a high pressure mix of water, sand and chemicals. The image below shows this process in more detail.

This is how oil and natural gas is extracted in the North Sea. But people are concerned about current plans to potentially use it on land, in places like Lancashire and Yorkshire.

Many people are concerned that injecting this mixture at high pressure could trigger minor earthquakes - this is a huge worry for people living in the areas identified as potential sites for fracking and could have knock-on impacts, such as higher insurance premiums due to the increased risk of damage to the ground beneath their homes. Additionally, the mixture could contaminate groundwater supplies, and therefore affect supplies of drinking water. Furthermore, the process is very expensive. Fracking itself costs a lot of money, but then you need to construct and maintain a network of pipes to transport the gas. In addition, natural gas is a fossil fuel, therefore burning it produces greenhouse gas emissions, changing the global climate.

On the other hand, people who support the extraction of natural gas argue that it gives off fewer harmful gases than other fossil fuels, for example sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxides, and emits around half the amount of CO₂ than oil and coal. However, it does still release some pollutants into the atmosphere, so it much more environmentally damaging than renewable sources. In addition, it is widely available across the globe and easy to transport through pipelines and using tankers. However, constructing pipelines underground will destroy habitats, and transporting overground releases CO₂ and could result in accidents.